DC-DC CONVERTER USABLE FOR DUAL VOLTAGE SUPPLY
A converter has a single inductor with a first terminal connectable to a first terminal of the supply input through a first power transistor and a second terminal connectable to a second terminal of the supply input through a second power transistor. A first rectifier element connects the first terminal of the inductor with a first output terminal, and a second rectifier element connects the second terminal of the inductor with a second output terminal. A resistive voltage divider is connected between the first and second output terminals. A control circuit uses an input from the voltage divider as a reference input voltage and provides an output current to the second terminal of the supply input in response to any voltage difference between the reference input voltage and the second terminal of the supply input. This provides a virtual common reference potential at the second terminal of the supply input, which is thus a common ground (GND) terminal. In the ON phase of both power transistors, the inductor is charged with current from the supply input. In the OFF phase (both power transistors are OFF), the energy stored in the inductor is supplied to both of the positive and the negative supply output through the rectifier elements, the output current in fact flowing almost exclusively between the positive and negative supply outputs. Thus, in the OFF phase, the inductor is entirely isolated from the supply input and the supply outputs are in no way affected by any transients or fluctuations in the supply input voltage.
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This patent application claims priority from German Patent Application No. 10 2007 045 464.5, filed 24 Sep. 2007, and from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/016,972, filed 27 Dec. 2007, the entireties of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to a DC-DC converter which, from a single supply input, produces first and second output voltages of opposite polarities with respect to a common reference potential.
BACKGROUNDA particular application that needs positive and negative supply voltages with respect to a common ground potential is an active matrix OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display. Typical supply requirements for such an application are ELVdd=4.0 to 6.0V and ELVss=−5.0 to −8.0V at a current consumption of 15 to 50 mA, depending on brightness and size of the display. For portable solutions, the available supply input voltage usually comes from a lithium-ion (Li-Ion) single cell at a voltage of 2.5 to 5.0V. The target efficiency of the system should be on the order of 80%.
The brightness of the individually-controlled OLED pixels depends heavily on the values of the supply voltages applied to the display panel. Any fluctuation in the supply voltages is recognized as a pattern over the OLED display panel. The tolerated maximum fluctuation in the supply voltage for transients of 0.5V at the converter input is 2 to 5 mV. Standard dual inductor switched mode converters cannot produce such low fluctuation values (i.e., high power rejection ratio). To achieve the required low level of fluctuations, additional linear voltage regulators are needed. The additional linear voltage regulators, however, reduce the overall power efficiency of the system.
SUMMARYThe invention provides a single inductor DC-DC converter with an inherently high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) without the need for additional linear voltage regulators.
In one embodiment, the converter has a single inductor with a first terminal connectable to a first terminal of the supply input through a first power transistor, and a second terminal connectable to a second terminal of the supply input through a second power transistor. A first rectifier element connects the first terminal of the inductor with a first output terminal, and a second rectifier element connects the second terminal of the inductor with a second output terminal. A resistive voltage divider is connected between the first and second output terminals. A control circuit uses an input from the voltage divider as a reference input voltage and provides an output current to the second terminal of the supply input in response to a voltage difference between the reference input voltage and the second terminal of the supply input. This provides a virtual common reference potential at the second terminal of the supply input, which serves as a common ground (GND) terminal. In an ON phase of both power transistors, the inductor is charged with current from the supply input. In an OFF phase with both power transistors off, the energy stored in the inductor is supplied to both the positive and negative supply outputs through the rectifier elements, the output current in flowing almost exclusively between the positive and negative supply outputs. Thus, in the OFF phase, the inductor is entirely isolated from the supply input, and the supply outputs are in no way affected by any transients or fluctuations in the supply input voltage. Since the output current to the OLED display panel flows predominantly from the positive supply output to the negative supply output, there is almost no DC current to the ground node of the connected OLED display panel, which is at the virtual common reference potential of the converter. Any AC glitches at the ground node are easily handled by output buffer capacitors. As long as any DC ground current remains low, e.g., up to 2 mA, it is easily provided by a control circuit with a buffer-connected operational amplifier between the tap node of the resistive divider and the virtual ground node. For higher ground compensation currents the control circuit adjusts the ON-OFF timing of the power transistors so as to provide the required symmetry between both outputs.
In another embodiment, the converter has a single inductor with a first terminal connectable to a first terminal of the supply input through a first power transistor, and a second terminal connectable to a second terminal of the supply input through a second power transistor. A first rectifier element connects the first terminal of the inductor with a first output terminal, and a second rectifier element connects the second terminal of the inductor with a second output terminal. A resistive voltage divider is connected between the first and second output terminals. A control circuit uses an input from the voltage divider as a reference input voltage and adjusts the ON-OFF timing of the power transistors so as to maintain symmetry between both converter outputs.
An additional requirement of OLED displays is that, in shutdown mode, both supply voltages need to be totally isolated from the input supply voltage. With a converter as described herein, this is easily achieved by keeping the first power transistor in the OFF condition.
For high efficiency, a preferred embodiment uses synchronous rectifiers (integrated power MOS transistors) instead of simple diodes.
Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of example embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
For this particular application, the DC-DC converter in
The converter is shown implemented as a CMOS integrated circuit. A first power transistor PCH, in this case a p-channel MOSFET, is connected in series with an inductor L and a diode D1 between the positive input terminal of VIN and the positive output terminal VOUT_P. The interconnection node between transistor PCH and inductor L is connected trough a diode D2 to the negative output terminal VOUT_N. A second power transistor NCH, in this case an n-channel MOSFET, is connected between the negative input terminal of VIN and the interconnection node of the inductor L with diode D1. In this particular design of the converter, the negative input terminal of VIN is used as a virtual reference (ground) terminal GND. Each output VOUT_P and VOUT_N is buffered to ground GND by a corresponding capacitor COUTP and COUTN.
The reference level of virtual ground terminal GND is determined by a resistive voltage divider comprising series-connected resistors R1 and R2 coupled between output terminals VOUT_P and VOUT_N. The tap node GND_REF between R1 and R2 is connected to the non-inverting input of a linear operational amplifier A connected as a buffer and having its output connected to virtual ground VIRTUAL GND.
With reference to
With reference to
The embodiment in
For larger dissymmetry between both outputs of the converter, a different concept is used as an alternative, or in addition, as explained with reference to
In this embodiment, a comparator COMP measures any deviation AV between the virtual reference node VIRTUAL GND and the reference voltage GND_REF. When the voltage at the reference node VIRTUAL GND exceeds the reference voltage GND_REF, the output of the comparator COMP is LOW, as shown in
In a preferred embodiment, the diodes D1 and D2 are replaced by synchronous rectifiers, i.e., switched power transistors RECT_P and RECT_N, as shown in
For the arrangement of
The voltage regulation circuitry in the
As seen in
The inductor current regulation and the voltage regulation are generally similar in the embodiment of
In this embodiment, the voltage across the inductor during TOFFP is VOUTP-VIN and during TOFFN it is VOUTN. These values are smaller than the voltage across the inductor in the first embodiment, where voltage during TOFF is /VOUTP/+/VOUTN/. Due to the smaller inductor voltages during the off-times in this embodiment, the inductor ripple current is reduced and therefore the efficiency is improved. The PSRR is still good as long as the inductor current can decay to zero after the last off-cycle TOFFN of a single current burst and the bursts are repeated with constant frequency.
An alternative mode of operation with the same embodiment is illustrated in
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other embodiments and variations are possible within the scope of the claimed invention.
Claims
1. A DC-DC converter for producing, from a single supply input, first and second output voltages of opposite polarities with respect to a common reference potential, comprising:
- an inductor with a first terminal connectable to a first terminal of the supply input through a first power transistor and a second terminal connectable to a second terminal of the supply input through a second power transistor;
- a first rectifier element connecting the first terminal of the inductor with a first output terminal;
- a second rectifier element connecting the second terminal of the inductor with second output terminal;
- a resistive voltage divider connected between the first and second output terminals; and
- a control circuit connected and adapted for using an input from the voltage divider as a reference input voltage and providing an output current to the second terminal of the supply input in response to a voltage difference between the reference input voltage and the voltage at the second terminal of the supply input; thereby providing a virtual common reference potential at said second terminal of the supply input.
2. The DC-DC converter of claim 1, wherein the control circuit includes a buffer-connected operational amplifier with a non-inverting input connected to a tap of the voltage divider and an output connected to the second terminal of the supply input.
3. A DC-DC converter producing, from a single supply input, first and second output voltages of opposite polarities with respect to a common reference potential, comprising:
- an inductor with a first terminal connectable to a first terminal of the supply input through a first power transistor and a second terminal connectable to a second terminal of the supply input through a second power transistor;
- a first rectifier element connecting the first terminal of the inductor with a first output terminal;
- a second rectifier element connecting the second terminal of the inductor with a second output terminal;
- a resistive voltage divider connected between the first and second output terminals; and
- a control circuit connected and adapted for using an input from the voltage divider as a reference input voltage and adjusting an ON-OFF timing of the power transistors so as to maintain symmetry between both outputs with respect to a virtual common reference potential at said second terminal of the supply input.
4. The DC-DC converter of claim 3, wherein said control circuit comprises a comparator that compares the reference input voltage with the virtual common reference potential and, in response, causes said first and second power transistors to be switched so that additional energy is momentarily supplied to only one of said first and second output terminals.
5. The DC-DC converter of claim 4, wherein the comparator output modulates the ON-OFF timing of said first and second power transistors.
6. The DC-DC converter of claim 4, wherein only one of the first and second power transistors is momentarily OFF before both transistors are OFF in the same period of the inductor current.
7. The DC-DC converter of claim 6, wherein the periods of the inductor current are of a fixed duration and the inductor current in each period is allowed to drop to zero.
8. The DC-DC converter of claim 4, wherein only one of the first and second power transistors is OFF in one of two successive periods of the inductor current, and both transistors are OFF in the second of two successive periods of the inductor current.
9. The DC-DC converter of claim 8, wherein alternating periods of the inductor current are of different durations and the inductor current in every second period is allowed to drop to zero.
10. The DC-DC converter of claim 8, wherein alternating periods of the inductor current are of different durations and the inductor current in every last period only in repeated sequences of periods is allowed to drop to zero.
11. The DC-DC converter of claim 1, further comprising a control loop connected and adapted to regulate the inductor charge current ramp in successive periods to reach a constant peak value.
12. The DC-DC converter of claim 8, wherein each of said first and second output terminals have an associated buffer capacitor connected to the second terminal of the supply input.
13. The DC-DC converter according to claim 4, wherein the rectifier elements are synchronous rectifiers implemented by power transistors.
14. The DC-DC converter according to claim 1, wherein the rectifier elements are synchronous rectifiers implemented by power transistors.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 22, 2008
Publication Date: Jul 2, 2009
Patent Grant number: 7999521
Applicant: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS DEUTSCHLAND GMBH (Freising)
Inventors: Erich Bayer (Thonhausen), Juergen Neuhaeusler (Bad Aibling), Stefan Reithmaier (Vilsheim)
Application Number: 12/235,309
International Classification: G05F 1/585 (20060101);